Gross mortgage lending up 8% from previous month

"Gross mortgage lending showed an 8% increase from last month, continuing the see-saw pattern seen throughout this year, albeit against a broadly flat market.

"Interpretation of recent trends continues to be challenged by one-off effects. We look forward to the September figures when the distorting effects of the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics should largely have worked their way through”.

David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, said: “So far this year, growth in overall mortgage lending has been as consistent as a rolling rugby ball. These figures are the latest of a series of unpredictable peaks and troughs which show precious few signs of significant recovery for the market as a whole. In contrast, buy to let lending has been relatively healthy over this period with seven straight months of growth. But buy to let is only one of the pillars which supports a healthy lending market and cannot carry the weight of the sector in isolation. Until we see significant improvement in the strength of the other elements of the lending market we’ll continue to see the rugby ball bounce we’ve grown so accustomed to over the last few years.”